IndyCar: Will J.R. Hildebrand compete in the 2019 Indianapolis 500?

Will J.R. Hildebrand make the ninth Indianapolis 500 start of his IndyCar career by competing in this year’s running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”?

J.R. Hildebrand’s first career Indianapolis 500 start back in his rookie IndyCar season, the 2011 season, infamously came to an end with him relinquishing the lead to the late Dan Wheldon after crashing in the final turn of the final lap of the race. He ended up skidding across the finish line in second place.

The 31-year-old Sausalito, California native has competed in each of the seven Indy 500 races that have taken place since this heartbreaking wreck, but he has not finished any of them in the top five.

In eight career starts in the 200-lap race around the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana, Hildebrand has recorded four top 10 finishes and an average finish of 12.50.

Hildebrand has not yet been confirmed on the entry list for this year’s running of the Indy 500, which is the 103rd running of the race.

However, Ketan Karkhanis, the senior vice president and general manager of Analytics Cloud at Salesforce, a cloud-based software company headquartered in San Francisco, California, recently tweeted that he is involved in a collaboration with Hildebrand for this race.

Shortly thereafter, Hildebrand responded to this tweet.

Salesforce sponsored the #66 Chevrolet, which was fielded by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, that Hildebrand drove in the 2018 Indy 500. Are they set to sponsor a car for him in this year’s running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” as well?

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These tweets were both posted about a week and a half ago, and there has been nothing confirmed about the situation since then. That said, there has been nothing that would suggest that this collaboration is off, so don’t be surprised if Hildebrand is confirmed as an entrant for this year’s Indy 500 in the very near future.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing confirmed at the end of February that Sage Karam is set to return to the team as the driver of the #24 Chevrolet for this year’s Indy 500 after driving for the team in this race in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

While the 24-year-old Nazareth, Pennsylvania native is the only driver who Dreyer & Reinbold Racing have confirmed for this race, they have not ruled out fielding a second car, and it has been rumored that they will do so given the fact that they did so last year for the first time since fielding four cars in the 2011 Indy 500.

Will J.R. Hildebrand compete in the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 26? Expect to know whether or not he will be entered into this race in the very near future, as this race, which is the sixth of 17 races on the 2019 IndyCar schedule, is now less than two months away.